


Come dance with me a dance

by ConvenientAlias



Category: Marco Polo (TV)
Genre: Dancing, F/F, Gen, Introspection, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 11:47:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20209231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConvenientAlias/pseuds/ConvenientAlias
Summary: Mei Lin thinks about the power a dance can hold.





	Come dance with me a dance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alexandria (heartfullofelves)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartfullofelves/gifts).

This girl Shoreh, she’s a rare one.

A lot of women think it’s easy to ensnare a man’s attention if you have the money to dress nice and you spread your legs wide enough. Really it depends on the man, though. Marco Polo isn’t all that easy prey, but Shoreh has ensnared him all the same, keeping him in camp for days now when he could be courting favor with his precious Khan. It takes some skill to capture a man’s attention so thoroughly. Of course Mei Lin is impressed.

When she asks Shoreh how she did it, Shoreh laughs and says something about the man being a foreigner like her, and doubtless that is part of it. But Mei Lin thinks that although Shoreh uses her foreign-ness to her advantage, playing up the exotic angle to the Mongols and the similarity to Marco in turn, it isn’t quite that, either. It’s also that she knows how to talk, and walk, and dance.

Some women can command that way, with a dance.

* * *

Mei Lin can remember when Jing Fei first arrived at the castle of the Song Emperor. She’d had little in the way of conversation, and Mei Lin had needed to give her tips on how to keep up with courtly fashion in how she dressed. She hadn’t known much about subtler matters of the court either—the way courtesans were used as political tools, the different ways one acted around men of different ranks, the sword hidden under the silk. Mei Lin had offered to teach her how to fight, so she might defend herself better, but she had refused, saying she knew some practical basics already, and at court she hoped she’d never have cause to use more. Mei Lin had scoffed at that, but she’d had to accept it. It was, after all, Jing Fei’s choice, not hers.

But Jing Fei had already known how to dance. In Mei Lin’s opinion, she danced better than any other woman at court, better than Mei Lin herself. When she said such things to Jing Fei, Jing Fei would smile slightly and demur. She seemed to think Mei Lin was testing her with false self deprecation, so no matter how Mei Lin flattered her, she would always deflect the compliments with the greatest courtesy, frustrating Mei Lin beyond belief. Such was a courtesan’s art, but for Mei Lin to have it used against herself—unbearable.

Then one night Jing Fei was invited to dance in front of the emperor and a few of his officials. Mei Lin, of course, was present, draped over the emperor’s shoulder like she was just another of his robes. She watched Jing Fei dance, and the heat so burned in her blood that she almost forgot the emperor was even there.

After that, she knew she must have Jing Fei one way or another; if for no other reason, because her unconsummated desire was too much of a distraction. So one day she asked Jing Fei if they might practice dancing together, if maybe Jing Fei could show her a little of her technique so that she might impress the emperor too—and so they danced together, and Mei Lin wielded her own power, and Jing Fei bent to her will.

Dancing was battle back then. It was how she and Jing Fei sparred with each other, and how they would gain their victories or happily lose. They danced so often together that courtiers began to remark on their improvement, and Ling-Ling began to say her mommy was a dancer instead of calling her a princess like she used to. Mei Lin accepted the title; it had a certain dignity to it, didn’t it? And power. Back then, dancing was power.

* * *

Shoreh wields the power of dance too. Kublai Khan is pleased with her, though he is more interested in other girls, and many of the officials are impressed with her as well. When this meeting between leaders comes to an end, she may leave with any man she chooses, Mei Lin thinks—travel wherever she wants to go. It’s already a given that she won’t stay with Marco, and Mei Lin pities him a little. Not because she thinks the parting will break his heart, but because it should. Shoreh is a prize.

Yes, Shoreh will command with her dancing, and men will follow. She will be rich someday, if she wants to be. She will have many lovers.

And Mei Lin hopes that power will last, and be able to grant all her wishes. Because it has not lasted for Mei Lin. A dead patron, a hateful brother, an angry Khan, a scheming prince… none of these are things she can dance away from herself. She will have to use other methods, to get what she wants.

(If she dances again, she hopes she can do it for Ling-Ling. And she hopes that dance will have the power to make Ling-Ling smile for her once again.)

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe I wrote a fic with no dialogue. What has become of the world.  
Anyways this is inspired by "Pas de Deux Femmes" by Joseph Lo Duca, from the Xena soundtrack. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
